Page 27 of Ruthless Protector

The shattering sound had come from the kitchen. Grabbing Tilly’s baseball bat from behind her bedroom door, I made my way down the stairs. Trent’s texts and calls had been coming thick and fast the last week. He was getting impatient. I hit the bottom of the stairs. Dammit, I told him he’d get his money. Coming here like this, breaking in, it didn’t really make sense…

Shit.

My pulse thundered in my ears as I creeped closer.

Maybe it wasn’t him.

My phone started ringing from the bedroom and I jumped, cursing under my breath. Why hadn’t I brought it with me? I ignored the ringing and quickly typed in the code to stop the alarm wailing, then carried on down the hall to the kitchen. I couldn’t hear a damn thing with that noise; I needed to know if we were in the house alone. The place was suddenly engulfed in silence. Just the faint drip of the leaky cold tap. Tilly never turned it off properly when she got a drink at night. Christ, what if she’d been in the kitchen?

My heart was racing as I reached for the light switch.

I flicked it on, blinking against the brightness. The window above the sink was shattered, shards of glass covering the counter and floor. No one could have gotten through there, though, it wasn’t big enough. I grabbed for the table, my legs feeling weak all of a sudden. I stumbled to the door and checked it, making sure it was still locked.

I did a quick check of the windows in the rest of the house. Only the kitchen window was broken. No one could have gotten in.

The new alarm had scared off whoever it was.

My phone started again, and I rushed back up to my room and answered, half-expecting it to be Trent. If he’d done this, he’d want to gloat, laugh at me, enjoy the fact that he’d scared us. He was a bastard like that. “Yes?”

“Talk to me, Willa,” a rough voice barked down the line.

“Cage?”

“Your place was breached.”

My knees did give out this time, and I sat heavily on the edge of my bed. “I’m…I’m fine. Someone broke the window, but they’re gone now. We’re okay.”

“I’m gonna need to check that out for myself. I’m on my way. You keep me on the line, okay, talk to me until I get there.”

“Okay.”

“Your little girl? She doing all right?”

“Tilly, yes, she’s…” I ran from my room. “I told her to lock herself in the bathroom.”

“You check on her, I’m turning onto your road now. I’ll be at your door in a few minutes.”

I nodded as if he could see me and called through the bathroom door. “It’s okay now, Tils. You can unlock the door and come out.”

“Are you sure?” she said, voice muffled.

“I promise.”

The door opened a crack and Tilly poked her head around the corner. As soon as she saw me, she flung it wide and ran to me, clinging tight.

“I’m here,” Cage said. “Open the door for me, honey.”

I ended the call, put down the phone, and scooped Tilly up in my arms. There was a light knock and my niece froze in my arms. “It’s okay,” I said to her. “It’s just the man who put the alarm in for us. He’s checking we’re all right.”

I rushed down and opened the door. Cage strode in, all business. “I have a man checking outside now.” He gave us a onceover. “Where was the window broken?”

“The kitchen.”

He nodded. “Stay here.”

An hour later, Tilly and I were on the couch, wrapped in a blanket while Cage spoke to the police. I’d already told them everything I knew, which was exactly nothing. I didn’t mention Trent. At first I thought it was him, but I couldn’t think of a motive for it, he’d already made his threats. Then again, the prick had never needed one before; being an asshole just came naturally.

My only option was to pay him his money and hope like hell he left again. If that meant doing more shifts at the club, then I’d do it. Steph made a lot of extra money giving lap dances, and the occasional private dance. I’d hoped to avoid that, but I didn’t think I had much choice anymore.